Project #482 - growing mushrooms. And no, these are the edible ones, not the "I can fly like a bird" ones. Come on people, there really are other mushrooms than button. Anyway, temporary snobby rant is over...I figured if the french could do it for their weekly markets, I could do the same thing at our house. I did decide to start small, so the first step was to buy a simple kit online. Pretty easy actually . . . they get some spores going and then inject them into a woodchip kind of material (think gerbil flooring) that's in a big bag. After a couple days of religious water humidification, the mushrooms will start growing through the holes in the bag. Wait a couple of weeks, and you cut and eat.
This particular variety was a blue oyster mushroom, and it was pretty idiot-proof - even dried well, when the production got ahead of me. I did learn (like they say in the directions) - humidity is everything. A big plastic bag goes on top, and you still have to mist at least once a day. Once this operation gets going I'll have to do something a little more automatic that involves one of Patrick's old fish tanks.
But right now, the next step is to start with an easy-growing spores and innoculate the big plastic bag myself. I've already ordered Hypsizygus tessulatus, which is commonly known as Shimeji or Beech Mushroom - I'll keep you posted.
